Unbreakable Bonds
by SilverWolf7
Summary: A Sesshoumaru and Rin non romance story.  Spanning from how they met, to the end of Naraku.  AU.  7th chapter:  Partner:  Jaken teaches Rin how to write her name while waiting for Sesshoumaru who has gone away.
1. Beginning

**Disclaimer - **I don't own any of these characters, they belong to Rumiko Takahashi**  
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**A/N - **This story is a continuing story based off of the themes and set #1 of InuYasha no Kakera. My goal was to write a 100 chaptered fic featuring Sesshoumaru and Rin in a non romantic relationship that went through the prompts in order. I have a timeline and what each chapter is about already written up, and the first two chapters already written. I do not have a beta, so any and all mistakes are mine. My first Inuyasha fanfiction.**  
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**Unbreakable Bonds**

How it all Began

The blast from Inuyasha's Kaze no Kizu had gotten close to being a killing blow, and Sesshoumaru had been transported away from the fight unexpectedly. The wounds acquired during that fight were slowly knitting themselves back up, but it was leaving him weak and vulnerable to attack.

He had fallen asleep as his body needed the energy to heal. He couldn't abide by that.

Instincts had taken over and he was finding it harder to control the restless demonic side of himself from completely escaping. He didn't have the energy to get up, change into his true form, limp off somewhere and lick his wounds clean.

The sounds of rustling bushes, footsteps and the strong scent of a young human came to him over the general noises and smells of the forest. He closed his eyes, hoping that the human would pass him by and leave, thinking him dead. Instead the sounds stopped just beyond the tree he was resting under.

He let out a growled hiss of warning, quickly turned towards the one who had interrupted him, and was surprised to see that this human was nothing but a girl child. He gently sniffed the air in her direction and was slightly surprised to scent no other human in the area. What was the girl doing out here so far away from whatever settlement it was she came from?

Baring his teeth at her made her back up a bit, but other than that she kept looking at him. He let himself lay back down, looking away from the girl again. She posed no threat to him if she was alone. If she bought others of her kind to him, he would slaughter them with his claws if need be.

Right now though, he was too tired and sore to deal with a stray human girl.

When he woke up again, he found a water container by his side. It was full, and while it smelled extremely good and would probably help him in some small way, he wouldn't trust anything set out to him by anyone other than his retainer.

Later on that night, this time while he was awake, she slowly crept towards him, a cooked fish and some mushrooms on a leaf. She put them down a bit away from him, careful not to get close. Sesshoumaru looked at the food and curled his lip in disgust. "I do not eat human food," he stated, before turning away to look at more interesting things.

The next time he saw the girl, the sun was shining and she woke him up with her very presence being near. She had with her another leaf, this time with sprigs on it from some plant, she obviously was bringing to him. Her face a mess of bruises and a tooth was missing. He wondered if it was beaten out of her, or if it fell out naturally like milk teeth are meant to do.

He refused her help again, but she would not leave him alone. In fact, she ran closer and held out her present towards him. He couldn't help it, he asked anyway. "Where did you get those bruises?"

Silence descended the small space the two of them were taking up, and sighed and looked fully at her. "It's alright, you don't have to answer."

It was then that she smiled for the first time. A huge gap-toothed grin of a small girl that had just been very pleased by something. He looked away again, not knowing why she was smiling, or why whatever fear of him she had still harboured within herself suddenly vanished.

She put the leaf down, and skipped away.

During the few hours after this incident he found himself healed of the worst of his injuries and fit enough to continue on with his journey. He had met back up with Jaken, his faithful retainer, and Ah-Un, his loyal dragon mount. Jaken had been searching for him, apparently angry at being used as a test subject for Tenseiga.

They had just been about to move on in their travels when a gust of wind brought with it the scent of blood and wolves. The blood scent was familiar, belonging to the girl. He stated as much out loud.

With no idea as to why, Sesshoumaru found himself following the scent, only to come across the body of the girl, quite dead, ravaged by wolves. She had been rather close to the tree he had been recovering under.

Had she been trying to run to him for protection? Had she been running to him to try and protect him from the wolves? Both were rather foolhardy decisions on the girls' part. Yet again, she couldn't know that.

Jaken said something, but he didn't hear what. Tenseiga, always at his side, but useless, began to pulse like a heartbeat. Unsheathing the sword, he found it to be glowing a light blue and pulsing for something. Listening to the sword, though it had no real voice, he looked over to the girl. There were imp like soul collectors around her body, getting ready to usher her spirit to its final resting place.

With one swipe of the sword, he cut through them and watched as they fell apart and became no more. He knelt down and got the girls head to rest against his knee and fur pelt. His shock was apparent on his face as he saw and heard the girl as she moved slightly and opened her eyes.

Jaken squawked by his side, something about the girl being alive once again. He paid no attention, standing and getting the girl on her own two feet. An uncomfortable silence fell, before Sesshoumaru turned around and begun walking away.

His retainer seemed angry at him again, calling him cruel for testing the sword on him beforehand. It was of no consequence really, he had just been giving a demonstration of how useless his sword truly was in a fight.

Glancing down to where Tenseiga hung at his side, he decided that perhaps his heirloom wasn't so much ornamental but could come to some use after all. He had finally found the power of his sword.

Behind him he heard the patter of two sets of feet, one set human the other youkai. Ah-Un was waiting by the tree he had spent the past few days under. Not knowing what possessed him to bring the girl back to life in the first place, he made it quite clear as the two others caught up to him that the girl could do what she liked. She was free to leave, she was free to stay.

To his rather uncomfortable surprise, she had decided to follow silently behind him.


	2. Dream

Nightmares 

Running. It seemed she was always running. Whether it be away from villagers that were trying to beat her for stealing food, or from bandits who wanted to kill her. But now, this was by far the most terrifying. Wolves, a pack of wolves had just devoured everyone in the small village that had taken her in after her family was killed.

Now that they had finished with the well fed and elderly people, they had decided that they would chase and eat her too.

Her legs weren't long enough to run away from them, but she had to try. Maybe, maybe if she could get to that man under the tree, the one that wasn't human, she would be safe. He may be injured, but she was sure that he would protect her.

Yet again, that could be her wishing for safety as death fast approached her on paws much faster than her own feet.

Parts of her still hurt from the beating she had received after being caught stealing fish from the preserve, and it was slowing her down as she could only drag one of her legs slightly behind her.

She had been close, so close to the place where the youkai was when a branch that was snaked along the road caught her leg and she fell hard on the ground. She spun around only to see the wolves jump for her. She screamed as death came upon her with sharp teeth and claws.

She screamed again as she woke up panting from her place on the forest floor. Wildly she looked about herself, trying to see if there were wolves nearby, ready to pounce, but she only saw a campfire burning brightly, a toad-like youkai, and a two-headed dragon.

Not seeing the one that she most wanted to at that moment, the one who had saved her from the wolves, she began to cry.

A loud, angry squawk came from beside her. "Quiet you silly girl, some of us are trying to sleep!" It was the small green creature.

She tried to stop her tears, but before long she was crying harder than she had been before.

"If you don't be quiet I'll burn you with my staff!" came the next shouted reply.

The next voice she heard made her quiet down somewhat, as she recognised the calm tone. "Jaken," it said, before a pair of shiny black boots came and stopped near her. "Quiet."

Another squawk was heard, before the toad turned around, faced the other way and closed his eyes with a loud "hmmph!"

Shifting of the feet drew her attention back to the boots, before the tall youkai with the long silver hair sat beside her on the ground. He did as he had done while lying against the tree, looked at her without looking at her. His face was turned almost in the total other direction to her, but she could tell that somehow he knew what she was doing or feeling.

Could he sense her feelings, could he smell them? She didn't know anything about youkai.

"You are scared," he said, his head tipping on an angle, and she could see yellow eyes staring at her with his head in that position. She nodded as a reply.

He made a small sound of acknowledgement in his throat, before he turned fully towards her. "Of me?"

She stared into his eyes. Eyes of which were so much like those of the wolves that had attacked her. Golden in colour and intense in whatever they were looking at. She made a small noise in reply, before shaking her head, no.

"Hn. The wolves. They cannot hurt you now. They are long gone."

Long gone? Did this man who was not human eat them? Did he just kill them? Or were they gone by the time he had reached her.

Eyes widened as she remembered waking up after having faced death, with this being beside her holding her to him. It had been the nicest thing anyone had done for her since her family had been killed. Not the bringing her back part, but the holding. It had been the first gesture of kindness, apart from him telling her that she did not have to speak if she didn't want to.

It was something to remember, something to cherish. He had given her back life. But he had given her back even more than that with a simple touch.

Making another sound she wiped at her eyes to make her vision less blurry from tears and managed to smile at him again.

"Don't let the nightmares upset you. No wolf will hurt you again."

Believing him, she nodded slightly, before letting herself lie back down and close her eyes. She would try not to let the nightmares bother her anymore.

Trying to sleep had been awkward for the rest of the night. She knew from the death of her parents and siblings that nightmares were bound to stay with her for a while. Each time she woke up with her heart racing, the silver haired being would be beside her in an instant, making sure she didn't hurt herself or run away into the unsafe forest around them.

Nothing calmed her down more though than after the last nightmare for that night, then when she looked around wildly for him and spotted him sleeping under a tree not far away from where she was.

She had managed not to wake him. Though it was such a small thing to be thankful of, it helped her none the less.

The sun was rising soon after and she managed a bit of sleep without nightmares before then. She was still very tired, but she was used to that.

So, it was with delight that, when they set out again, she was given permission to ride on the two headed mount. If she fell asleep, she would be safe and they would be able to continue moving.

Safe. Yes, that was what she felt whenever he was around. For as long as she was able, she would stay with him.


	3. Evil Principles

Seeing Death

After a few days of travelling with the youkai, Rin had begun to see a pattern forming of what to expect, when to expect it, and how to go about doing what was wanted of her.

Sesshoumaru-sama, the leader, the one she truly followed, the one that had gotten her respect, was silent most of the time. Ah-Un, the dragon mount carried her when she was tired of walking on her feet. Jaken the toad-like youkai seemed to be constantly muttering things either about his lord, or about her. He led Ah-Un, using the reigns a few paces behind Sesshoumaru-sama.

Rin followed. She was woken up early in the mornings to go find food to eat. She walked and rode along behind the other two. Silence was her friend more than anything or anyone else. Her constant companion, especially since her family had died.

Talking seemed to have abandoned her with the burial of her parents. Tongue heavy in her mouth, Rin had not been able to speak a word since seeing them being murdered. It had haunted her for months afterwards.

Sesshoumaru-sama didn't seem bothered by her silence. Yet again, he didn't seem relieved over it either. He was the kind of person, she had decided, that didn't feel much. Or, at least, kept what he was feeling hidden from everyone.

Sometimes, she caught herself wondering if he was angry, or sad, or even happy about bringing her back, or thinking of what he might feel about her following him. She had learnt from Jaken's constant noise that she had been the first person brought back by the Tenseiga.

Was Sesshoumaru-sama glad that he had finally been able to find his swords power and use it?

Sighing loudly to herself, Rin shifted so that she was lying down on Ah-Un's saddle and let the motion of the beast under her calm her thoughts. It was useless thinking on such things. She'll never be told, and Sesshoumaru-sama was too much of a mystery to her.

Jaken stared up at her and quickly looked away with a noise that couldn't be interpreted as anything other than disgust.

Soon they came to a stop near a river to fill up their water supply. Her stomach growled loudly at her, and she looked down at it, putting her hands down and looking up at her new found lord.

Yellow eyes looked at her, before looking away again a few seconds later to look at Jaken instead. "Go look for food, girl."

Rin sighed, but nodded. For once, she would really like to be called by her name, instead of girl. Or human. That word sounded more like an insult coming form either of the youkai she was now travelling with.

Thankfully the time after what happened to her family had been spent foraging and stealing food from preserves, and she had gotten rather good at it. She didn't like to be caught though, because she was beaten then.

Walking away from the river and towards the trees, hoping to spot some mushrooms, she stopped short and ducked down as a noise caught her ears. It sounded like some people were up ahead, and they were bound to have food.

Sneaking towards some bushes and ducking down behind them quickly so as not to be seen, she sucked in a quick breath at the men she saw ahead of her in a small clearing. Their armour was rough and looked in need to be mended. But by their sides were daggers and swords, and each man had a shifty look in their eyes.

It was more their general demeanour than what they wore or what weapons they were fond of using that told her that these people were like the ones that had hurt her family. Just as quietly as she had gotten there, she had left again, before long running back to the river and following it until she found Sesshoumaru-sama and Jaken again.

Wanting to yell out that bandits were nearby but unable, she did the only thing she could, tugged on the cloth where an arm was missing and pointed in the direction, a succession of noises passed her throat and she hoped that he got the idea.

The tall lord looked down at her. She didn't know what he must have seen there, but a steely look came into his eyes, along with something else, and he began to stride with sure, even steps towards where she had been pointing.

Running behind him was Jaken, and while she didn't want to follow them back there, she did anyway, as she was more afraid of being alone. Just finding people who were looking after her was better than being in that village with the people that had hurt her.

They had been killed by wolves, just as she had been, but they hadn't been brought back.

Sesshoumaru-sama turned his head quickly in one direction, and she jogged to catch up to him. Rin couldn't see anything from this far away, but she heard a low growl coming from her side and knew that her lord had spotted them.

"Bandits, Sesshoumaru-sama! Can I handle them?" Jaken asked, bouncing up and down on the spot, holding his two-headed staff like a weapon.

"No."

Even the one word came out more like a growl. Jaken had the good sense to stay quiet after that and looked down at the ground with a small "Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama."

Her lord sprang forward so fast and suddenly that she had missed the movement entirely, but a loud warning from the small camp of bandits gave her the answer of where he was now. Quickly she followed the noises and stopped fast as what she saw.

A long thin whip of green light snaked around his body and anything it touched was cut. It seemed to be coming out of his hand. Rin thought it pretty, until she saw it cut off one of the bandits' leg. Followed by the head of another, which was then closely accompanied by the entire top half of a third.

Soon, all of them were dead, missing limbs, and their blood was spilt everywhere but on the spotless white outfit of Sesshoumaru-sama. Jaken had joined in it seemed, as a fiery blast from one side had made her turn away from the display her lord was making, and she had seen flames spewing from the old man's head on the staff.

Now everything was quiet, and her ears were ringing and she was feeling sick. Finding a bit of ground not covered in gore, she flopped down onto it and stared at the ones who had taken her in. Did all youkai know how to kill so easily? Is that why they were feared?

The only ones she had seen beforehand had been wolf youkai, the one who controlled the pack that had killed all in the village, and the one the leader had been looking for.

This though, this was done by the ones she had become to depend upon. Would they turn on her and kill her for being human? Is that why the mere word seemed an insult to them?

Her thoughts were interrupted by Sesshoumaru-sama sitting down beside her, looking quickly about the mess. His hand shot up and pointed, and she followed it. Food. Oh yes, she had been hungry.

Without much thought, she leant forward and was sick on the ground. No hand went to her back to comfort her, or to keep her hair out of the way. All she got in reply was an angry squawk from the toad and her Lord's nose wrinkling in disgust.

Disgust. They didn't like her. Were they doing this out of pity? Were they doing this out of amusement? She felt like a pet.

It was at that thought that Rin begun to cry silently.

The sharp smell of tears seemed to rise above the other scents on the air. Blood, entrails, vomit. None could be more annoying than the scent of tears.

It had meant that he had done something wrong. Sesshoumaru was not used to doing things wrong. He mainly just did things his way, which was usually right. The last person he had smelt tears from had left him. It always meant that.

Why he was even affected like this by a tiny human girl was beyond him. She followed him, he allowed it, and that was as far as that went. He held no attachment to the girl, but from the fascination that Tenseiga had finally allowed him to use its power.

But…why? A question he had been asking himself continuously since bringing the girl back from the dead. Why her? Why now? He did not even know her name, as it seemed that she was unable to speak.

Shaking his head slightly, he looked down at the girl by his side. "Do not cry. They were bad people and would have killed much more of your kind if not killed themselves. Do you understand?"

Sniffling at his side, followed by a quick nod of the head satisfied him. She understood partially at least. They had been in his territory and would have caused trouble for him if left alone. He did not think the girl was yet ready to hear that. She was still crying.

"Stop crying." This time it was an order.

Sesshoumaru was pleased when she tried to stop. After a short while, succeeding. The girl looked up at him, all huge eyes and sad expression. He stood up and went over to where the bandits had kept their food supplies and picked up some of the foodstuffs. He then walked back in the direction of where he had left Ah-Un.

If the girl wanted to continue following she could. If not, well, there was still food here, and there was bound to be a village somewhere nearby, though not close enough for him to be able to sense it.

By the time he made it back to the dragon mount, Jaken was hurrying along behind him, always loyal, if a bit annoying. The girl was not in range of his senses.

Packing the food into one of the bigger packs on Ah-Un, Sesshoumaru decided that it might be best not to wait. If the girl was going to continue following, she would have to catch up.

It was when he was turning around to continue on in the direction he had originally been going in before calling the rest, that he caught her scent. And it was getting closer.

Turning to look in the direction the girl was in, Sesshoumaru carefully kept his face blank, as she ran as fast as her small legs would carry her towards them. Inside, he heaved a huge sigh of relief. She had not left. Perhaps that meant that he had done nothing wrong after all.

Once she caught up to them and slowed down, climbing slowly onto Ah-Un for a bit of a rest after her sprint, they moved back on their way. It seemed right to have her there with them.

For the first time in a very long while, Sesshoumaru felt content.


	4. If it Turns

**Notes:** Yes, this is the whole chapter. I don't know why, but I really wanted it to end where it did, but I have no idea if it is any good. Also be warned for fluffiness and Sesshoumaru acting like a puppy. I wanted him to behave through the entire fic, but nooo…

Finding Her Voice

Something woke him.

Not too uncommon an occurrence, since he was a very light sleeper and liked to always stay alert just in case trouble came to interrupt his small group. Smelling the air about himself for hints of trouble, he relaxed slightly when he didn't detect any in the immediate vicinity.

Almost asleep again, he opened his eyes when he heard what must have woken him up in the first place. A small whimper coming from the human.

Letting his breath out in a rush at the thought of being on babysitting duty, he went to get up, when the noise stopped. Shaking his head, Sesshoumaru got up anyway, to put another piece of wood onto the fire before it went out completely. Humans were so weak when it came to the weather, and cold was something that the girl suffered from, especially at night.

She had yet to say a word. He was getting rather sick of calling her girl as he had been doing since she had begun following him like a lost puppy.

The girl was up and about now too, probably the reason why the noise had stopped. The tangy scent of fear was slowly ebbing away from her which heightened his guess that she had suffered through another nightmare.

A common way for him to wake up to now. He was getting too used to the scent of her fear. It was not a comfortable feeling he was experiencing. Something could sneak up on them and he would be unable to use the entirety of his senses. It made him feel slightly vulnerable.

Sighing heavily and sneaking her way closer to the fire, the girl let out a huge yawn, showing that she still had a workable tongue in her mouth. Had she been mute at birth? Was it a natural defect, or did she just not like speaking?

This little human child brought up too many questions, and he wasn't sure if he wanted the answers to them.

Well, at least her silence wasn't annoying. It was actually rather pleasant. He would just feel better if he knew she wasn't talking for a suitable reason.

Tired, and not wanting to play this stupid guessing game any longer, he cocked his head to the side and decided to learn the truth once and for all. Making himself comfortable across the fire from her, watching as she moved around closer to him, Sesshoumaru gathered his mind and begun what he hoped would help his sudden curiosity.

"Girl," he started, glad when she turned and looked up into his eyes, the scent of fear dying away from her. "Can you read?"

His answer was a shake of her head. If one cannot read, one cannot write. Well, he shouldn't be too upset with that. She had grown up in a human village, where only the richest well to do people were taught. If even they were taught. Savages.

It would mean that his only responses would be grunts and nods or shakes of the head. Perhaps this would be harder than it first seemed. Best to stick with questions that can be answered by yes and no, so she could reply.

"Have you always been unable to speak?" It was the question most on his mind, and a simple one. And yet, when it came to answering it, the girl seemed to be reluctant. Finally, after a few quiet minutes with nothing but Jaken's snores and the crackle of the fire, she gave a slight shake to her head.

She was then once able to speak? It must have been when she was very young, as when he had met her the first time, she had only communicated as she did now. Perhaps that was the reason for the beatings she had been receiving from where she had lived?

He shouldn't have asked. His curiosity was well and truly peaked now, and unless she started talking again, which he doubted would happen any time soon, he had no way of getting an answer as to why she didn't speak.

Sesshoumaru pondered for a few minutes whether or not to teach her to read and write, before shaking his head. No, that would try his patience too much. Perhaps Jaken could teach her…

A grunt from his side alerted him that she wanted something, before she tugged at his sleeve. He cocked his head on an angle so he could see her and saw she was pointing to the spot where she had been sleeping. Was she actually asking permission to rest?

"Go back to sleep. We continue on in the morning."

With that said, he went back to the tree he had been leaning against and looked out into the darkness of the forest around them, senses trained to be as sharp as possible for any sign of danger. The girl had stayed where she was for a bit before making a low sound that he had never heard before. He could smell her frustration.

So, he had been wrong in his guess then. Well, it mattered not now. The girl had gotten up and crawled back over to her blanket, and soon after her breathing slowed and she was once again asleep.

Rest eluded him for the rest of the night. That was alright, he had plenty before the girl had woken him up. Thankfully he did not need as much rest as a human would. As soon as the sun had broken the horizon and begun to rise, Sesshoumaru had gone about making sure the fire was out before waking the girl with a gentle nudge to her side with a booted foot, and kicked Jaken afterwards for good measure.

Ah-Un raised both heads and got up, greeting the young human with a slight noise and nudging with scaly noses.

It seemed to please the girl, as she giggled and patted the dragon mount and climbed on. Ah-Un seemed to have made friends with her, more so than he ever had with Jaken. This pleased Sesshoumaru somewhat, though it made Jaken rather noisy.

A week. It had only been one short week since she had begun following him, three days since the incident with the bandits, and she was showing surprising amounts of loyalty towards him. She was not afraid of him, she did not bear a grudge over what he had done to those humans, and she was always smiling when she was riding on Ah-Un, like as if nothing could go wrong in the world.

Having been eaten by wolves not too long ago, she should know that the last wasn't true. Things were always going wrong in the world. Even for him, though mostly things turned out the way he planned or wanted them.

The nightmares made her see reason and the smiles didn't come to her face until late in the morning. Well, until now anyway.

Shaking his head at this slight change, after all the morning had barely started and there was already a small smile on her face, he turned and begun walking towards his destination for the day.

An open field that stretched on for what seemed to be eternity, full of wildflowers and long grass. It was a favourite place of his and he made sure to visit it at least once on his patrols.

"Sesshoumaru-sama? It is in season for the flowers," Jaken stated, hurrying up to walk just behind him, panting slightly.

Jaken always said that when it was this time of year, when the flowers were in bloom. The scent was strong, but not overpoweringly so, but still his retainer worried of him, Sesshoumaru, Lord of the Western Lands, making a fool of himself.

Or perhaps it was that the small youkai just didn't like flowers.

Sesshoumaru found it peaceful, and a good place to run. It was one of the few places in his patrols that he took on his true form without worry of upsetting the wildlife and homes of the things in his territory. While things did live there, they usually got out of the way beforehand.

The familiar squawk coming from Jaken when he picked up his speed made him stop and punt the noisy creature onto the back of Ah-Un with the girl. It didn't help the noise, but it did make sure that both of them kept up.

By the time the sun was at its highest peak, they had made it to his destination and he immediately gave in to his nature and changed into his true form, giving himself a firm shake. It always felt good to be in his own skin for once.

The human seemed to give in to her own, as upon seeing the flowers she let out a squeal of delight, leapt off of the dragon mount and was rolling in the grass and acting like a pup. Odd, he didn't know human children enjoyed that type of play.

Letting out a huff of humour, he took off running to the other side, the wind whipping through his long fur, and back again when he reached the tree line. He did this a couple of times before joining in the human's game and rolled in the long grass, enjoying the sensation.

It was good to be able to do this. He had tried just simple walking in his true form shortly after losing his arm to Inuyasha, and he had barely been able to balance on three limbs instead of four. During the darkest hours of the night while Jaken and Ah-Un were asleep he would practice walking, and then running short distances until he could get around just as easily as if he had the missing limb there still.

Closing his eyes, Sesshoumaru let out his breath in a rush and laid down, his head part way hidden under the grass, but his eyes and the top half of his snout sticking out. He heard more than smelt the girl as she walked up to him, petting his nose like he was some kind of human pet. He opened his eyes, glanced down at her and saw the biggest smile he had ever seen grace her lips pass across her face.

Deciding just this once to let it pass, he rolled to his side, and closed his eyes again. His eyes whipped open wide again within the next few seconds. The small girl had climbed up his side and onto his neck to pat his head and to his surprise he heard something that for an instant he thought he had imagined.

"Dog," a small voice near his ear whispered, raspy and ill used, but still there. He sat up, hearing her shriek and slide down his back to land roughly in the grass. Still, she laughed afterwards, petting whatever part of him she could reach.

"Pretty dog," were the next words, said just as softly and rough. He didn't know whether to be insulted or be happy that she was speaking. At long last he could get a name out of her.

But not now. Right now he was feeling like lying in the sun, surrounded by flowers and being petted like a humans pet. It was keeping the young girl from running off completely.

After a time, as the sun began to sink below the line of sight, and as the moon begun to shine brilliantly in the sky, he changed back to his humanoid form, and stood up. The girl was covered with flowers that she had picked and made into a wreath for her hair and around her arms. Smiling greatly up at him, she held out an extra one and gave it to him.

Regardless of what the girl thought, he wouldn't wear it, and instead he put it inside his haori, not caring if at some stage it fell out or stayed put. Later, when she was sleeping, he would leave it hanging off a tree or something. Perhaps some youkai child will find it and keep it.

Making camp in the trees on the other side of the field, they began preparations for the night, catching a few rabbits for dinner and getting the fire started so that the cool of the night wouldn't bite too hard for the human child.

When the sun completely set and her belly was full, she lay down on the blanket that she had claimed as her own (the one he didn't need to use but always kept around just in case the need struck him) and went to sleep. Sesshoumaru watched her as she slept, mindful that she would more than likely wake soon from a nightmare.

As the hours crept by and there wasn't a sound but the gentle breathing from the girl, he was lulled off to sleep himself. He wasn't woken that night.

The sun rising was what got him to be conscious of the world around him again, and he was quite surprised to hear humming coming from the girl. He must have been more tired than usual to not be woken up by the noise, which made him frown. That was swept away to his normal indifferent state, when she looked over to him and smiled, before saying in her very stilted and unused voice "Sesshoumaru-sama is awake now!"

"Yes," he replied, getting up from his spot against the tree he had been leaning against and walking towards the young girl. He stared down at her and he looked back up at him, silent once again.

Finally, with her talking again, he wasted no time in asking the question that had been burning him for the past few days. "What is your name, girl?"

She replied with one small word, but it was one that he would remember. It even somehow suited her. He immediately felt better knowing that he had a proper name.

"Rin."


	5. Respect

Protector

"Sesshoumaru-samaaaaaa," Jaken cried out for the fifth time that day, and Rin laughed. She had been having fun in ways she had not been able to have in a long time. She was still getting used to using her voice again, and had been chattering non stop to the small youkai that was riding behind her on Ah-Un.

She watched as the lord turned slightly to see what was going on, before continuing his walking, not giving an answer. Rin giggled. "Jaken, please? I think you would be good at it."

The staff he always held was poked into her back, not hard, and a loud squawk came from behind her. "No! You silly girl, I told you I would not play your games."

For the past two hours, she had been trying to get him to join her in a new game she had thought of. She would look up into the sky, watching the clouds and call out whatever the shapes in them reminded her of. There were a lot of white fluffy clouds today, and it was fun.

Rin wondered briefly if Jaken had ever had fun in his life. Silly toad.

Looking to the tall youkai walking before the two-headed dragon mount, she pondered the mystery that was Sesshoumaru-sama. He was the quietest person she had ever met and she wondered if, now that she was talking again, maybe he would speak too.

Ah-Un was slowing down his pace, every now and then one of the heads ducking down to pick at some grass. It was only then that she noticed that she was hungry too. Fidgeting slightly on the saddle, she looked behind her at Jaken, before turning her stare to the back of the one she was following.

"Rin is hungry," she said, and she was surprised yet happy when they stopped their travelling and a pair of golden eyes turned in her direction.

"Go find food."

With a smile and a nod, Rin got off the mount, and turned towards the direction she thought best for finding food, towards where the trees were a bit thicker. There wasn't any water nearby, but she was sure that there would be some type of food for her to find there.

After a bit of foraging around, she came across a patch of mushrooms, all of them the type that was safe for eating, and began picking them slowly, so that she could take them all with her. Propping up her yukata, she frowned when the holes in it from the wolf attack let her carry only a few of the biggest and juiciest of them, the smaller ones falling through the rips.

Sighing, she let go of her clothing and picked up only what she could carry. It would do for lunch, but not for dinner as well. She would have to go looking for food again tonight. Hmm, maybe there would be a river or stream and she could have fish for her afternoon meal. It sounded like a good treat.

On her way back, she stopped as she heard snuffling noises followed by the occasional snort. From out of the trees, a huge boar came, seemingly on its own search for food.

Surprised when it stood up on its hind legs and gave her a toothy smile, she began to feel slightly worried as to what it wanted. She smiled back and pointed back in the direction she had come from. "There are other mushrooms over there if you want them. Rin could only carry these." She held out her handful.

A loud chuckle, filled with other sounds that didn't surprise her at all. It was just the kind of laugh she expected a wild pig with huge tusks would make. "How sweet to tell me, but I am not looking for food."

"Oh. What are you looking for then?"

The boar snorted and looked at her in the eye. "An intruder to my territory. I found her." Another one of those weird chuckles escaped the creature's mouth.

Rin took a deep breath and didn't even hesitate in what she did next. Unlike with the human bandits a few days ago, this time she had her voice. "Sesshoumaru-sama!"

The boar began slowly walking towards her, lowering its head to show off his tusks, which seemed intent on tearing her flesh away from her body. She already knew how that felt and she didn't want to repeat it, ever.

"Sesshoumaru-sama!" She screamed again, this time her worry and fright seemed to sink into the words and just as the boar charged forwards, a hand shot out and grabbed one of the tusks, ripping it out and throwing it carelessly in the opposite direction. It stopped the boar, which squealed in pain.

"My teeth! What did you do to my mouth, worthless dog?" shouted the now very angry boar. Sesshoumaru smiled at it, and Rin shivered. It wasn't a nice smile. It was the smile one would only show an enemy or someone about to die at their hands.

"Rin, go back to Jaken."

It was only a small request but she did so, as fast as her legs would take her. Her fright was slowly fading away as she got nearer to where she could hear Jaken muttering to himself. Sesshoumaru-sama would deal with the youkai that had been bothering her. Whether or not it stayed alive, she decided, didn't really matter. If it was going to kill her, than it would try to kill anyone, right?

Still, she kept hoping that the boar would still have its life after its meeting with her new guardian.

It took her a few minutes of calming down and explaining to Jaken and Ah-Un what had happened before she realised that Sesshoumaru-sama had come at her call and protected her.

She smiled and started to cook the mushrooms over a small fire Jaken had started while she had been off looking for food. Yes, her new guardian, her new protector.

"My teeth! What did you do to my mouth, worthless dog?"

A smile, one that nowadays only the dead (and occasionally Jaken) got to see, lifted the corners of Sesshoumaru's mouth. "Rin, go back to Jaken."

Following the girls form until it had disappeared out of the boar's territory, Sesshoumaru then turned his attentions fully onto the youkai next to him. "Worthless?" It was all that needed to be said.

"Answer me!" screamed the pig, as it tried to ram him with his remaining tusk. That one was soon lost too, held in Sesshoumaru's hand like a trophy.

"Pathetic."

A glowing green whip of light shot out of his fingers and he flicked it almost idly at the boar's neck, severing the head from the body so fast and neatly that not a drop of blood was left on his person. A clean kill. His whip had sealed the wounds on both sides, but that didn't always happen.

This pig must have been weaker than even he had first imagined.

The scent of freshly killed meat brought him to mind that it was the time of day for meals for the rest of his pack. Rin had her mushrooms and Jaken had been busily frying a lizard over the fire as he had left after hearing Rin's call of help.

Cocking his head slightly to one side, he pondered over whether or not he should take the time and eat what he would before going back to the others. But while the smell of freshly killed meat was rather tempting, he found he wasn't hungry.

Shaking his head, he turned around, threw the other tusk onto the dead youkai's head and left the scene, making his way back to where Rin and Jaken awaited for his return. Both of whom he found still eating themselves.

Silently, he leaned against a tree as he waited for the two smallest members of his small pack to finish their meal, put out the fire and presented themselves as ready for travel again.

Moving away, he was slightly confused as to why Rin had not hopped onto Ah-Un, but was following right behind him in Jaken's usual spot. He took in a deep breath of air, letting the scent of the girl cover his senses and he allowed himself to relax a fraction. She was unhurt and had reached her in time.

No one but he would ever hurt anyone in his pack, and he would only do so for disciplinary reasons. Sometimes it was needed to keep things in control.

Anyone who dared try would soon meet a quick death.


	6. Nostalgia

**Warnings for non graphic mentions of rape. Another warning for OOCness on Sesshoumaru's part…he's way too talkative.  
**

Sounds of battle became louder for Sesshoumaru as he took his group closer to one of the human villages he had scouted around the near countryside. He had noticed that it was improper of Rin to be wearing clothes full of holes. To his memory of human females, they were taught to sew and darn and other cloth making necessities at a very young age. In his ignorance he had thought that Rin would be able to mend her clothes by herself.

Going to the right settlement was going to be tricky though. It had to be one where the humans wouldn't turn away a youkai, nor ask questions he was unwilling to answer: like how did Rin get into the state she was in now?

Peeking over some of the large bushes she had been scrounging around in looking for berries, the sounds of battle peaked even Rin's interest. It must be a rather close fight. Sesshoumaru sniffed the air, but the scent of youkai was not around, the only smells he was picking up were the reek of pigs, mud and humans.

Were the stupid creatures fighting over livestock? Or land?

Curiosity peaked, Sesshoumaru began to wander in the direction of the noise, wanting to see the fight play itself out. Entering the clearing, he saw not a dispute over any of the things he thought he would, instead he froze.

A group of three men, bandits by the looks of them, were holding down a woman while another was…

A slight gasp from his side made him look down and he quickly did the first thing he could think of, covered the girl's eyes. He had not been fast enough to keep the look of dawning horror off Rin's face.

Tiny hands clutched at his hand trying to remove it from her sight. She began to fidget harder and he let go of her to make her stop. He did not expect her to act so rashly.

With a shout of ferocious anger the little girl he had allowed to follow behind him ran headlong into the yard and pounded one of the men as hard as she could wherever she could reach. With a raised eyebrow, Sesshoumaru watched as she bit and punched the man off the woman and kicked him in a very sensitive spot.

The woman got up as best she could as the other three let go of her and turned to the girl who had managed to get their leader to fall to the ground in pain. Picking up a pitchfork, usually used to minimum effect on youkai, but good enough on humans, the woman skewered the man who had been violating her, before turning to the others.

Both females were stopped from fighting by the owner of the farm. Carrying sword and a very angry expression on his face, the human man swept into the bandits and soon was losing the battle.

Sighing to himself, Sesshoumaru swept out of where he had been observing the goings on and all activity seemed to stop.

"Sesshoumaru-sama! The bandits! They hurt her!" shouted Rin, pointing to the woman, and scowling at the two men still alive.

"I know Rin. Come."

He wanted to get her out of this mess before she got any more ideas that would be hazardous to her health.

"No! Do something. Kill them like the other bandits, the ones who I saw before." She was looking up at him with eyes that looked like they would be much more at home on a puppy instead of a human child. He let out his breath.

Sesshoumaru looked the last two of the bandits over, and looked each in the eye. Within seconds they were running for their lives. While Rin looked like she would enjoy the chase, he did not go after them like she expected. He had gotten rid of them and he very much doubted that they would be annoying anyone for quite a while, if at all.

"Are you alright?" Rin asked, looking over the two farmers and checking them for any serious injury. While she knew somewhere inside her that damage had been done to the woman, she hadn't been hurt much other than…what had happened. They must have taken her by surprise. The man had quite a few scrapes and a growing puddle of blood by his feet, but she decided he would live as well.

"You are one very brave little girl," the woman said, trying to smile, before she slowly walked into the house.

Rin watched her go before turning back to the man. "They hurt her here," she stated, pointing to her private places and grimaced. The look that came over the man's face made her back up. With a calming hand on her shoulder, Sesshoumaru managed to get her to stay still for a second, while he looked down and checked for injuries he knew she didn't have.

If those bandits had hurt her in that way, they would wish and beg for death, and it would come very, very slowly for them. Sesshoumaru let out a growl at the thought.

"Go back to Ah-Un."

It was an order she followed immediately, running as fast as her small legs would take her back to the mount and where Jaken would undoubtedly be dozing. It was not as bloody as the last break they had had in which Rin had encountered bandits, but for a young human such things were terrifying.

He had still to figure out what would drive a human to force themselves on another in such a way. It was sick and disgusting to him, and he was a demon.

He began to slowly turn around, before stopping and looking back towards the house, then to the still bleeding man. "Clothing."

The farmer looked at him like he had grown an extra head, before shaking his head in confusion. Sesshoumaru sighed. "For the girl, have you got clothing that would fit?"

"No. We have not had children."

With a non committal sound from deep in his throat, Sesshoumaru turned back around and disappeared out of the farms range of sight, hoping to never see it or its owners again. Rin was waiting for him, sitting atop Ah-Un, a frown on her usually smiling face. Jaken was up and about, picking up the remains of a hastily eaten lunch.

They had been moving for a good few minutes of silence before the scent of salty tears reached his nose. He looked over his shoulder to see Rin staring off at nothing, her eyes filled with tears, some of which were rolling down her cheeks.

What she had just seen must have frightened her a lot if she was crying over it. He had learnt that apart from a few things, Rin was not one to easily cry. He kept walking, turning his gaze forward. Soon the tears had stopped again.

They would not stop again until nightfall. He would ask her then. He could not abide any of his pack crying when he did not know what was wrong.

Once a suitable camp was built later that day, he left the two others to hunt, coming back with a few rabbits for their dinner. Meat was always a good way of cheering up his pack. Jaken ate his in a flash, though he frowned when he noticed Rin only picking at her portion.

"Rin?" She looked up at him and he shifted slightly when he realised that she was not cheered up at all by his gift. "Eat."

After a few polite nibbles on the meat, she stopped and went over to Ah-Un, who was lying down close to the fire, dozing near the warmth. She pulled out a blanket and wrapped herself in it, pretending to sleep soon after.

He would have to talk to her. He would wait until Jaken was asleep first though. She had been teased enough for the day. Thankfully this time came sooner than he expected, and soon he was towering over his young charge and telling her to get up, while an unsuspecting Jaken lay snoring against a tree not too far away.

Taking her a little ways away from the camp, while keeping one ear pricked for the slightest trouble, he stopped behind a tree and sat down. Rin soon was sitting by him. They sat like that for a few minutes in one of the few awkward silences he had found himself in.

"Rin, why were you crying?" he asked, deciding it best to be upfront with the small girl.

"It…it was like what happened to Rin's family. Mama was hurt badly, stabbed and then the bandits did those things to her. I was hidden. I didn't do anything to save her. My brothers and Papa…they, they tried to save her, but they were hurt by the bandits too. Rin watched and did nothing! I should have done something, like I did today. It would have stopped them, and then Rin would still have a family!"

Sesshoumaru watched as the girl threw herself to the ground and begun wailing loudly enough to wake up half the forest, tears streaming down her face like as if she had never had the chance to cry for what had happened before.

Perhaps she hadn't.

That thought angered him more than anything right that second. Someone had dared to hurt this child. If anyone so much as dared while she was under his protection….

He stayed still, not moving, nor being much of a comfort to her, just letting her know that it was alright to do this. Whether or not Rin understood the silent cues, or she just couldn't help herself, she continued to voice out her misery.

The tears stopped after a while, and Rin seemed to drift off to sleep where she was. Slowly and as carefully as he could with one arm, he scooped her up and took her back to the camp, depositing her near her place by Ah-Un that she had taken up sleeping. Instinctively, she curled herself up closer to the dragon mount, still asleep.

At least now he knew what had made her so upset. He would talk to her in the morning if it pleased her. She may want to keep silent.

Silent. Not talking. The way she was when he had first met her, and following that, the first few days when she started travelling with him. She didn't speak at all during that time, using only primitive sounds and pointing to get her message across.

He had presumed that she had been beaten to silence by the village she had lived in, as he knew they were abusive towards her. Perhaps it was the other way around. Maybe her village had beaten her for her refusal to voice her opinions on it? Beat her because she was different than them, without her voice.

If he didn't think it before it was well and truly obvious to him now. Humans were disgusting creatures that were unwashed, uneducated, and were a lot crueller than most demons he knew could possibly be.

He really didn't like humans. Rin was an exception. She was too young to know any better, and had never had anyone to teach her much of anything.

He would change that.

As soon as he got her a new set of clothing.

IYIYIYIY

When she woke up, Rin felt as if she had been lying face down in the dirt, her face was so gritty. But she was on the blanket, curled against Ah-Un like she slept most nights nowadays.

It wasn't until she spotted Sesshoumaru, who was currently waking up Jaken using his foot as a poker, that she remembered what had happened last night. She scrubbed furiously at her face, hoping that her Sesshoumaru-sama wouldn't think lowly of her for such an outright display of untoward feelings.

It had been a long time since she had cried like that. Not since the day of her family's burial. Since then she had tended to fend for herself, since the rest of the village had begun to tease her and hit her when she didn't respond. If they had seen her cry…it was worse than thinking Sesshoumaru-sama had seen her.

Crawling onto Ah-Un, not in the least bit feeling like walking today, she sat on top of the dragon, pouting. In a few minutes, they were on their way off, walking sedately through the forests that her lord seemed to love so much. The pace seemed slower today than any other since she had started following the small group of youkai.

Sighing loudly, she began playing with the hair of Ah's mane of hair, Un grunting slightly at not getting the same attention. It surprised her when the two headed mount suddenly stopped. Looking up, halfway through a plat, she noted that Sesshoumaru-sama had stopped walking and was talking quietly to Jaken, who bowed slightly and scampered off in a different direction.

Sesshoumaru walked over to where she and Ah-Un currently were, petting the heads and staring at her.

"Jaken is collecting fish for you to eat."

"Rin can get her own fish," she stated, frowning slightly. Sesshoumaru-sama knew this by now, surely. It was one of the things she did nowadays that was truly fun.

"I know."

She looked away from yellow eyes sure that the reason why she wasn't fishing right now was because she was going to be yelled at. "Sorry. Rin will not do that again."

"Rin, do what you wish. You are young. I do not find fault in your behaviour last night. It was…a child's instinct."

Pouting and crossing her arms angrily across her chest, she glared at him. "Then Rin doesn't want to be a child. Rin wants…wants…"

A sound that Rin could only think of as a huff, escaped Sesshoumaru-sama at that comment. "Some things happen to make one grow up faster. You lost your family Rin, but that does not mean you need to stop being a child. It is…precious. You never find out you miss it until it is passed."

Looking up at him, this time to see his face properly, trying to see why he would say something like that. "Why?"

Sesshoumaru-sama's head cocked to one side, a thing Rin only saw when he was listening to something far away, or for thinking of something. He frowned. "I do not know how to answer that."

Sinking lower into her seat, Ah-Un shifting slightly underneath her at the move, she looked away again, sure that this time she had said or done something to anger or upset her lord. "Rin is sorry."

"Why?"

"Sesshoumaru-sama, do you cry?"

A blink was her answer for a long time, before a small shake of his head, barely making his hair move, "No."

"Is that why you are sad all the time?"

"Sad? Don't be ridiculous Rin."

With that said, he went to his usual place ahead of Ah-Un, and started walking in the direction that Jaken had taken off earlier. When the river came into view, she saw that there were three fish lying on the river bed, and Jaken was starting a fire for cooking them.

After eating two of the fish and letting Jaken have one for himself, Rin was feeling a little better for eating something. She decided that for the rest of the day she would walk. Or at least, until she got tired.

As they set off again, she took her place at the reigns of Ah-Un, walking slightly behind Jaken. By the time they camped for that night, Rin was once again happy and smiling. Yes, she felt much better.


	7. Partner

Surprises

"Jaken, stay here and watch Rin."

They were the first words of the day Sesshoumaru-sama had spoken, and Rin didn't know what to make of them. A slight look of displeasure was on her Lord's face, and she immediately felt sorry for whatever had made him feel such.

"Sesshoumaru-sama? Where are you going?" she asked, watching as Jaken stayed by the fire, eyes closed and rather relaxed for the normally loud and complaining youkai. Sesshoumaru-sama had already begun walking away.

"Stupid child! Sesshoumaru-sama does what he wants! There is no need to ask him of it."

Rin poked her tongue out at Jaken, turned to face her lord, only to see that he had already disappeared. She smiled somewhat at the thought of how fast the youkai was. She hadn't seen Jaken ever move that quick, but she wondered if it was only a matter of time, or if it happened to be a trait only Inu youkai had, or if it was simply Sesshoumaru-sama.

She liked to think it was the last. It made him seem that much more special in her eyes.

Turning back to Jaken, glad to see that the fire was still burning so she could cook something for breakfast, she looked the toad-like creature over. Like always, he didn't look like he would be much fun.

Putting the last of the mushrooms she had collected the night before on a stick, she put them over the fire, cooking them slightly. Mushrooms were abundant in wooded places around here, but she was getting sick of them. She would prefer meat, or fish. Even berries, though they were harder to find.

Eating the mushrooms, she watched as Jaken got something out of the packs on Ah-Un. She was rather surprised to see it was parchment. Rolled up in some skin next to that was a pen set. She had never seen a pen before.

"Jaken, you can read and write?" she asked, rather surprised by this sudden insight. She had never really thought of how educated the small youkai could be. It never occurred to her that sometimes he actually managed to say something to her that was informative. She had never really paid any attention at all to what he said, since most of it was insults or teasing towards her or humans in general, or was complaining that she knew even Sesshoumaru-sama couldn't stand.

"Of course I can, silly girl!" Jaken replied, sitting himself down and pulling out a bottle of ink from his robe.

"Rin didn't know that! You are much smarter than Rin first thought." She smiled at Jaken, and saw that he seemed unsure of what to say in return, and spluttered for a bit, before making a squawking sound he seemed to make all the time, and went about writing something with elaborate strokes on the parchment.

She looked over his shoulder, wondering what the characters appearing on the parchment actually meant. That led her to wondering if she could learn to write. Or read. It would be fun, and she would learn something no one else in her village had ever done. Her smile slipped. Would they have been proud of her for that, or would they have beaten her for it like they had with everything else?

It didn't matter anymore really. They were all eaten.

"Can you teach Rin to read and write, Jaken?" she asked, curious to know more of the lines and shapes taking over the blank parchment. They were so pretty.

"Rin! If you stop looking over my shoulder like this, I might. Might!"

Hurrying back so she couldn't see anymore, she watched as Jaken began to once again write his message, before he let out a sound of accomplishment, and put it nearer the fire so the ink could dry.

To her surprise, he took out another pen and some more parchment. Rin was by his side again in no time. Picking up the pen she was handed, she swayed it about in her hand, and wanted to immediately start.

The pen was quickly taken away, and Jaken glared at her with his huge bulbous eyes. "Not like that girl! It takes patience and skill to do it properly, and isn't anything like drawing nonsensical things on paper."

"Rin wants to learn how to write her name!" she stated, carefully taking the pen back, this time not waving it about like a toy. With the care Jaken had used his own, she decided that it was indeed not something to play around with.

"Why?!" Jaken snapped at her. His voice louder than it normally was, and a little bit higher too. Rin giggled.

"I want to surprise Sesshoumaru-sama. He might like it if you teach me to write."

For the second time that day, Jaken looked up at her and sputtered, not able to find words to say. When he finally did speak, it was barely in a whisper, and Rin had to lean down to hear him. She could have sworn that Jaken's eyes glowed from inside, and twinkled.

She didn't catch all he said, but she did catch Sesshoumaru-sama's name, and high praise. Rin knew she had hit the right spot to get Jaken to teach her.

"Please Jaken-sama? I would like to learn and Sesshoumaru-sama would be happy."

The small youkai jumped at the honorific she had given him and smiled, puffing himself up to look bigger than he was. "Alright, I will teach you to write your name. Anything more will wait for later. I don't know how long Sesshoumaru-sama is going to be gone for, but this time I don't think it will be for very long."

Rin nodded happily, and watched as Jaken drew her name on the piece of parchment, before handing it over to her to repeat. "This is your name," Jaken stated, and Rin looked at it, wondering why her name looked so…odd in written form.

Looking at the letter that the small youkai had finished, she giggled. Her name wasn't in it, she wasn't really expecting it to be, but all the symbols and lines looked weird, but pretty.

She looked back at her name, picked up the pen, dipped it in the ink and went about trying to recreate the lines for herself.

Rin soon found out that it wasn't as easy as she had first thought, and while Jaken's writing was all neat and tidy, hers was shaky, untidy and all over the place. But somehow it still managed to resemble the original, but it didn't quite look right.

Retrying, she found her next attempt was no better, but the one afterwards seemed to fit better, even if it was still messy. She let out a smile. "Look Jaken-sama, I am getting better!" she said, before putting the pen and parchment down and pulling the youkai closer in a hug that was winding in its intensity. "Thank you for teaching me!"

She spent a good hour doing nothing but trying to improve writing her name.

IYIYIYIYIYIYIY

Walking slowly back to the camp, hoping Jaken had taken good care of Rin while he had been gone dealing with a rogue youkai out of its territory, Sesshoumaru took his time. There had been no need to kill the lizard that had strayed from its home, it had just gotten lost, was young and hadn't known who he was. It had been looking for food and gotten turned around.

At least it wasn't powerful, trying to hurt him or his pack, or trying to take more land than it needed. It was the only reason he hadn't killed the beast then and there and had instead pointed it back in the right direction.

He had warned the lizard from ever doing something like that again, and he had gotten a hasty nod and a terrified look.

It still made him feel uneasy. Edgy. He had been expecting a kill. But this land was all his territory, regardless of all the other youkai in it that also had their own separate pieces of land they called home inside. And of course, the human villages. He couldn't kill them all. That would be wrong even by his standards and regardless of his own actions and what everyone thought, he didn't kill if he didn't have a reason.

Before going back to his small pack, he decided to hunt. Sometimes the need to lash out at something even got the better of him, and it would help with his edginess.

By the time he walked into the small camp, he had eaten a rabbit for his own dinner, and had caught a deer for the next few days for Rin and Jaken. He could see the longing look for something other than mushrooms in the young girl's eyes. The sun had already set.

Rin was asleep against Ah-Un, Jaken close by, keeping watch over the girl and the dragon. Sesshoumaru nodded. Everything was as it should be then. Good. He could trust Jaken with Rin while he went away occasionally on business.

He dropped the deer by Jaken, and silently the imp went about skinning it and preparing it for meals. Sesshoumaru watched as it was done, not really interested, but having an interest in the welfare and health of his pack. He ate his meat raw.

Rin stirred as the portion for that night began cooking. He watched as brown eyes blinked open and turned to where Jaken went about cooking their meat. A giant smile began to light up her face.

"Sesshoumaru-sama! You are back," Rin said, turning that smile of hers onto him, before she hurriedly got to her feet and bowed. "Rin made something for you Sesshoumaru-sama. Jaken helped me to learn something new!"

Scrounging around in one of the packs slung over Ah-Un, the dragon not too happy with the movements and grunting slightly in complaint, Rin soon was in front of him again, holding out a scrap of dirty paper, bowing low and presenting it to him.

Curiosity won out in the end, and slowly he plucked the piece of parchment out of the girl's hands and looked at what was on it. At first he thought he was looking at what was obviously bad writing that had been done by Jaken. But Jaken was neat and precise in his writing, as was seen in one small corner of the page. The rest was written in a messy scrawl, the same name over and over. Occasionally he could even read it without too much of a problem.

Rin.

She had learnt how to write and read her own name, even if she couldn't do it properly right now, it was definitely a start. A sudden surge of pride overcame him then. The child could learn fast if she cared to, and by the looks of the page in front of him, she did.

He would get Jaken to teach her fully. It would please him greatly.

He looked away from the paper to where Rin was in front of him, slowly ringing her hands together in a visual sign of nervousness. He nodded slightly at her and tucked it away carefully so that he wouldn't lose it.

For a human, even the simple act of writing ones name seemed a big accomplishment. He would keep this piece of paper as a reminder of how much one human child can learn.

"Does Sesshoumaru-sama like it?" she asked, her eyes filled with an odd sort of worry.

Not knowing what to say to that, Sesshoumaru nodded once, sharply, a sure sign to say that indeed he did, and he watched that smile light up her face again.

Perhaps after a given time, she would do more things that made him feel as if he was doing well by her.

Only time would tell.


End file.
